how much to charge??

DC5_ITR

'ello all

this seems like the most relevant section to post this, but excuse this newbie if it's wrong mods/admins.

anyways - i'm about to embark on a nixer for a company but as this is my first "proper" nixer, i have no idea what to charge! without going into too much details, i'm going to be creating a CRM system that ties in with PDA's and a web portal sitting on top of SQL Server using .NET 2003. Nothing wildly complicated and God bless XML

Anyhoo - the guy has agreed to pay me cash into the lámh so the goverment won't get it's mitts on any of it (mercifully). Can anyone give me a ball park figure that is deemed acceptable to charge and also should it be based per hour, day, week, month etc.?

thanks for any help
K.

Kernel32

First off, always per hour. If there is any travel involved or expenses then get that nailed down too. Who pays for what and how much.

Your rate would be based on various factors. Whats your skill level and what do you make in your day job? The nixer your taking on, do you have some business knowledge that allows you to be more productive than someone else at your skill level. If so then you charge a premium for that.

steve_O_

you should charge no less than 300 approx per day for this.

DC5_ITR

wow - nice one - thanks alot gents.


Cheers
K.

Zaph0d

If your client is the government, start off by quoting low, say €8 million, then send in a bill for €150 million while it's still full of bugs and then say it will cost another €100 million to complete.

Unless it has very simple requirements, "creating a CRM system that ties in with PDA's and a web portal " sounds like it's more difficult than something you could do as a nixer.

OMcGovern

You're talking about contractor rates....
But it sounds like the OP has been asked to build a product for a fixed fee ?

How many companies will write a blank cheque for someone to start programming without any idea of project cost or length ?

One thing you'll probably overlook is support when it's released.
A clear functional specification before you begin is vital
Otherwise they'll keep adding features on to their wishlist indefinitely.
This is perfect if you're just getting paid by the day with on obligation to support them afterwards though!

But consider drawing up a support agreement for a year after the release.
You want to get paid for being on call when things go wrong.
A clear functional specification will be able to determine whether it's a bug or a new requirement when these calls start coming in. You charge for new enhancements, but not for bugs.

regards,
Owen

gerryk

If you start off by quoting "€300/day" you'd better be able to give them a timescale and stick to it. Since this is your first project, there are a few things to do...

Draw up a list of features and get it signed off.
Draw up a development schedule with regular reviews and sign offs.
Don't overestimate the time too much... they will double check this.
Likewise, don't overestimate the cost too much.
Document everything. Code. Meetings. Feature requests.
As Owen above said, try and work in a service contract. An extra couple of K a year for updates (not rewrites) would be nice.
Personally, I don't charge by the day, I just work out a flat fee and get half before, half after. That allows me to tool up if there's any extras necessary for the job.

Good luck... sounds like an interesting project.

DC5_ITR

i've worked as a developer and designer for over 10 years and have been involved with many n-tier applications for large organisations. i'm all too familiar with the need to get a scope document signed off etc - don't worry

this guy run's a company by the seat of his pants and essentially his company is becoming a major success story as the months go by - in the space of a few months they went from making 20k profit per month to now over 120k profit per month.

this is something that he is aware is going to take a good while to complete and i've already told him about a prototype and the rest of the general lifecycle. it is also something i'm doing in my free time - hence it being a nixer. i was looking for approximate figures like what was provided so from that i can derive an hourly rate based on the fact that it's done in my free time and that he's paying me cash in hand. i'm thinking of just asking for 50quid per hour. obviously he has no way to essentially audit what hours i do but i don't intend to rip him off anyway - he's one of the few genuine nice people in power out there.

this project is interesting but it's something i can do in my sleep. having worked on far more complex things in my past, has yielded me with some useful common objects like generic database access, error handler and validation objects for example that cut down the overall development time dramatically. coupled with .NET's pure simplicity it's something i'm looking forward to completing by next spring.

anyway - blathered on enough - hope u'r not bored to tears - and thanks again for all information peeps - appreciated.

K.

ianmc38

DC5_ITR wrote:

anyway - blathered on enough - hope u'r not bored to tears

Your hope is in vain.

Seth Brundle

OMcGovern wrote:

How many companies will write a blank cheque for someone to start programming without any idea of project cost or length ?

Not a company but - the Dept Of Health?